political question

Aufin

The question came up today around the dinner table. No one could answer so I thought I'd get a first-hand answer. Is voting a [i]requirement[i] in Australia? ]

Sleepe

Federal and State yes, Council no.

Gunagulla

Unless you live more than 20km (I think, or it might be 25km) from a voting booth, or have a valid reason for not voting.

If you dont have a reason, there is a fine. If you don't pay the fine they can take your driver's licence away until you do pay!
Trust me on this, it happened to me all because some idiot stuffed up the paperwork and sent my please explain why you didn't vote letter to the wrong address, twice. Quite a few people got caught up in that stuff up apparently.

Aufin

Interesting. Just had mid-term elections here. A 40 plus percent turnout is considered a high turnout.

Colum Black-Byron

It's a good and bad system.

Good in the fact that everybodies opinion is taken, and it should give a better outcome for the general public. Bad in the fact that people who don't care or follow anything political will vote for the same person/party regardless of what they are proposing, or just give a donkey vote because they like how the picture of them on a signpost looks.

I'd like to think that when you have a 40% turn out, the 40% care more about politics, and have read up on who they are voting for. But I know it's not a perfect syste either.

Slowboat

2 things I avoid discussing at the dinner table:

Politics

My Work.

werdna

I work in tax.
Politicians like to change tax laws.

Therefore I cant avoid either discussions... ever.

katmac

Do not get me started Andrew.... My favourite is when they change tax laws years after they were implemented, and then send you the retrospective bill to the tune of $1.36million... Not that I was counting (Oh, and not that it was my money - but it affected my job security immensely).

Voting is great. There are hot dogs and cake stalls at my polling place

I neglected to vote in the bungled WA senate election, I voted the first time but was immensely busy on the second date and didn't make it. I feel a bit ripped off that I got a fine for that one. After all, I voted. Not my fault they lost all the bags...

Snags

Compulsory voting seems like a good idea but recently in Australia the people of western Sydney have become the most important people to win government this skews policies to attract them.
Tough on boat people seems to be a favourite that swings a vital 1 or 2 percent that makes all the difference.
Scare campaigns on carbon tax worked pretty well on them too.
They dont seem to be too concerned for the environment and love new roads more than public transport.
Howard won them over with middle class welfare.

You end up with sad short term policies just to get and stay in power with no long term sustainable benefit to Australia.

I think IQ test before you were allowed to vote would be a better system

katmac

Ooooo I love that. But I get in trouble for going one step further and saying that I think that IQ test should also extend to breeding.... Semi-jokingly...

Blizzard

Or there is having to vote for the party you hate the less! I was accused off voting twice at the last election. I ignored their letters until they sent one to my daughter accusing her off not voting? So I put the two letters together and sent them a letter. I can repeat what I wrote them on here. But I haven’t received anymore letters from them? Our AEC is a joke! Our senate voting slip is one metre long and you have to number every box or let someone else decide where your vote goes? They should stop the preference vote. One vote one value no trading votes no preferences. And if anyone disagrees. Just have a look at our senate! I actually voted for the PUP. I am still waiting for the double disillusion election. Because what they have now wont work. ATM. Not to many people who are loosing their jobs will either. If you keep retrenching tax payers. Who is going to pay for the unemployed and retired people? Well it wont be the businesses that don’t pay tax here!

coachchris

Lest you guys thing we have it much better here. Here's my fair states latest governor candidates. One, the Republican incumbent, was the CEO of a private hospital that was accused and fined (largest ever) for cheating the Federal government out of millions in medicare fraud. He also replaced the qualified people in charge of the environmental policies with his cronies who are typically developers or businessmen and whom have zero qualifications to head their departments. The other, a former Republican governor, who then switched to Independent, and then to Democratic parties, has his own history of buddying up with unscrupulous people who make large campaign contributions. What a choice! There was an Independent, but he was a "normal, non politician, who had no war chest of funds, so had no chance, eevn though his ideas where probably better then the main guys. Between the 2, I think the total was over 100 MILLION dollars spent. Here, it has little to do with who you are and what you stand for, and more about how much money you have and who you can get to fund your campaign. Then, when you get out of office, you conveniently get a cushy private sector job with the companies that you helped make large amounts of money with your vote.

Colum Black-Byron

My thought have always been, the people who want power shouldn't have it. But I think that'd be a tough one to regulate.

I usually vote for the major parties last (at the end of 50 or so votes), not that it seems to do anything. But our system is full of corruption as well, the media being the biggest one: when the then Prime minister is up on a major news paper dressed up as the germans from Hogan's heroes, you know something is wrong.

coachchris

Colum, you remember Hogan's Heroes? You have Col Klink, and we have Sgt. Schultz.lol

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